Handguns

NAA Customer Service
I have been a subscriber to your publication since it began and consider it the finest publication that exists on the subject of firearms. I only wish you published such a magazine on computers.

Almost ten years ago, I purchased a North American Arms .22 Magnum Mini-Revolver. I carry it when I jog or rollerblade and as a backup to the .45 Colt Officers Model I routinely carry.

Three weeks ago, while disassembling the Magnum Mini-Revolver for cleaning I lost the $3 hand spring. Upon calling the factory, their representative (Mr. Wayne Martin) suggested I return the gun for replacement of the part and reassembly.

In less than three weeks, the gun was...

One shot, well placed, at great range: this is perhaps the ultimate shooting test. If the target is a varmint or a distant rock, the flat-shooting .22-250 will do the trick nicely. This is the realm of the precision rifle — or is it? Why not do it with a handgun? A bolt-action or break-open single-shot pistol might be lots more fun and is certainly more of a challenge to the shooter. Such handguns naturally require the use of a scope to get the most out of them, and also to help you to see small targets at extreme range.

Make no mistake, such a handgun is capable of at least as good accuracy as a comparable rifle. All barrels vibrate when you shoot a bullet through them, and the longer an...

When the .357 Magnum was introduced in 1935, it was the most powerful commercial handgun cartridge available. Since then, that title has been passed on to several other rounds, such as the .44 Magnum and the .454 Casull. Nevertheless, the .357 Magnum is still a very good round.

In our opinion, the .357 Magnum is one of the most versatile handgun cartridges. When loaded hot and topped with a 125-grain jacketed hollow point, it is an excellent self-defense round. With heavier bullets, it is capable of taking varmints and other animals smaller than deer. CCI even makes a shotshell round that can be used to dispatch snakes and birds.

The .357 Magnum utilizes a rimmed case and is intended for use in revolvers. Although there are several technical problems associated with feeding and headspacing a revolver cartridge in a semiautomatic handgun, a few companies currently make .357 Magnum pistols. Two such guns, the Magnum Research Desert Eagle and the Coonan Arms Model B, are the subject of this head-to-head test. Also, a separate evaluation of the Coonan Arms Cadet compact .357 Magnum pistol is included on pages 14-15.

The Cadet is Coonan Arm's response to those who have called for a compact version of the company's Model B pistol. The Cadet is about 1 inch shorter and 7 ounces lighter than a standard Model B, and has a 1-1/4-inch shorter barrel.

Like the original, the Cadet is a single-action .357 Magnum pistol made of stainless steel. Its 3-3/4-inch barrel has a fixed locking lug. There is no barrel bushing. Walnut grip panels and fixed sights are standard equipment. This $850 compact comes with one 6-round magazine.

Click here to view the Coonan Cadet features guide.

The Coonan Cadet we acquired for testing looked like a beefy Officer-size 1911 pi...

The Colt Bisley was introduced in May 1894 as a target handgun intended for competition in England. The first name the gun had was the "Special Target Model of 1894." The gun performed so well at the famous Bisley Commons shooting grounds in England over the next year or so that Colt redesignated it the "Bisley Model Target."

The Bisley design altered the grip-to-barrel angle and hand position so that the bore would be lower in the hand, and also at nearly a right angle to the gripping axis. Together with the altered grip came a lower and wider hammer, enabling the shooter to cock the gun without shifting his grip. A third main difference is the wide trigger, curved and brought closer to...

An out-of-the-box 1911 pistol that shoots 3-1/2- to 4-inch groups at 25 yards might be suitable for personal protection. However, such a pistol isn't even close to adequate for formal target shooting, such as a bullseye match. To be competitive, you need a pistol that is at least capable of 2-inch groups at 25 yards. A handgun that will produce 1-inch or smaller groups at that distance would be ideal.

Several custom pistolsmiths make very nice, extremely accurate target pistols, but these guns are priced in the $2,000 to $4,000 range. What do you do if your checkbook can't take that big of a hit? The answer is simple. Buy a factory-made match pistol that will only cost you an arm, instea...

Because of its popularity and wide acceptance, the .40 S&W is destined to become one of the great cartridges. For the most part, anything a 9mm can do, a .40 S&W can do better. If a manufacturer has a 9mm handgun in its product line, it is very likely that there is a .40 S&W counterpart. Many police departments, who switched from the .38/.357 double-action revolver to the 9mm pistol, are now rearming with the .40 pistol.

Six full-size .40 S&W pistols in the $600 to $800 range are the subjects of this test. They are the Smith & Wesson 4006, the Glock 22, the Walther P99, the Beretta Model 96, the Heckler & Koch USP40 and the Sig Sauer P229.

Concealed carry aside, full-size models do ev...

Terminology to describe lighter-framed concealable revolvers seems to be tracking changes in professional boxing. In the sweet science, no longer does a fighter compete merely as a bantamweight, middleweight or heavyweight. Now the prefixes light, for just under a given weight-class structure, and super, meaning a little heavier than a certain poundage range, are divvying up the match-ups so tightly that we may soon see 170-pound guys whacking only 171-pound opponents.

Likewise, in gun terms, we're confronted with evermore descriptive language for heft, such as Air-Weight, Air-Lite, and Ultra-Light—most often labeling snubbies demanded by today's CHL holder. These airy words are designed...

Some time back on these pages we gave you the results of a test of three .357 Magnum double-action revolvers with four-inch barrels. However, our gun stores tell us that, because so many shooters don't read Gun Tests, folks continually come in and ask which brand of .357 they ought to buy.

Sometimes, they don't know what barrel length they want. More often they know which length, but not which brand gives them the most bang for their buck. Is, for example, the 6-inch Smith & Wesson just as good as the 4-inch version? We thought it would be a good idea to test the same three revolvers in the 6-inch version, and see if the same gun came up a winner. As a bonus, we added a Taurus to the mi...

It has come to our attention that there is indeed a rift between stalwarts of practical shooting. USPSA/IPSC approaches the sport in a freewheeling manner, with eyes toward raising the level of its game to that of an Olympic sport. The International Defensive Pistol Association would rather have its matches looked upon as training for life-threatening situations. Attending matches held under the auspices of each of these organizations has led us to believe that each brand of practical match has value as training and entertainment. Whereas the IDPA insists on carry-suitable guns and holsters, it is most easy to succeed in these matches with a pistol that would also be competitive at a USPSA/I...

The annals of gunmaking are filled with stories of hot, new cartridges whipped up by wildcatters, or in some cases mainline manufacturers, that have gone on to long histories of obscurity or indifference among shooters. The .41 Magnum comes to mind as a prime example of a round that when introduced had all the credentials of a world beater: speed, power, and accuracy. But, today, finding a .41 Mag. on the range is like encountering an old friend you've not spoken with in ages. You wonder what he's been up to.

With this backdrop, we wonder what the .357 Sig's "future history" will be. This chambering, sired from a cooperative effort between Sig Sauer and the Federal Cartridge Company, is b...

A major trend in pistols today is toward increased stopping power — the bigger the bullet, the better. This thinking, however, leaves a number of smaller cartridges and some otherwise good handguns sitting on the shelf.

The .32 ACP is one of those calibers which has been gathering dust, especially in the United States. Although it is still fairly popular in Europe, it has nearly been replaced by the more powerful .380 ACP in this country.

A minor comeback seems to be in progress for the .32 cartridge, as a number of handgun manufacturers have started offering pistols to exploit its capabilities. One of the few advantages the .32 ACP has over the .380 ACP is that it can be fired in sm...